Dr David W Evans
, Retired Consultant in Cardiology, says: “Human organ transplantation is Wrong because it necessitates the abuse of the dying or harming the healthy. Doctors should not be involved in such things… I don’t know how any doctor can operate on his patient not for his good but knowingly to do him harm.”[more]

OPPOSE
ORGAN
DONATION

Dr David J Hill
, Retired consultant anaesthetist, says: “The Diagnosis of Death for Transplant Purposes has no international consensus and in the UK… depends upon testing only a few cubic centimetres of tissue in the brainstem for loss of function… Live organs can only come from living bodies. ”[more]

OPPOSE
ORGAN
DONATION

Dr Paul A Byrne
, neonatalogist and pediatrician, says: “In order to be suitable for transplant, (heart, liver, lungs, kidneys and pancreas) need to be removed from the donor before respiration and circulation cease. Otherwise, these organs are not suitable, since damage to the organs occurs within a brief time after circulation of blood with oxygen stops.”[more]

OPPOSE
ORGAN
DONATION

Dr John B Shea
, retired diagnostic radiologist & Fellow of Royal College of Physicians & Surgeons of Canada, says: “Many physicians have serious and well-considered concerns about morality of human organ transplantation … the general public has not been properly informed about what really happens when organs are retrieved.”[more]

OPPOSE
ORGAN
DONATION

Bereaved mother
(Bernice Jones) says: “ Brain death is not death” and “organ donation is very deceptive”. “Families are led to believe that their loved ones are dead, but in fact they are alive. You must be alive to be a vital organ donor.”[more]

OPPOSE
ORGAN
DONATION

Nurse Ellen B Linde
, senior graduate teaching assistant, University of Scranton, says: “Some, believing that removing vital organs is what kills the patient, view organ donation… as an act of killing… not all nurses are comfortable with a value system driven primarily by the needs of transplant recipients rather than by the needs of the potential donor.”[more]

OPPOSE
ORGAN
DONATION

Earl E. Appleby Jr
, Director, Citizens United Resisting Euthanasia, says: “Anyone unwise enough to have signed an organ donor card also has legitimate cause for concern. Would you trust a doctor who regards your body “not as an organism in need of healing but as a container of biological useful materials” … That’s exactly what organ donors do. ”[more]

OPPOSE
ORGAN
DONATION

Michael Potts
, medical ethicist, says: “Any action that directly causes the death of a patient, even if it is for the good of others, opposes the goal of medicine not to harm that individual patient… It is precisely whether transplantation kills the donor that is the key issue that cuts to the heart of the goals of medicine.”[more]

Was Not Dead!

Sam Schmid

Poised to Donate Organs, 21-Year-Old Emerges From Coma.

Sam Schmid, an Arizona college student, was critically wounded in a five-car accident in Tucson, Arizona (Oct 19, 2011).

The 21-year-old’s brain injuries were so severe that the local hospital could not treat him. He was airlifted to the Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Phoenix, where specialists performed surgery for a life-threatening aneurysm.

With no responsive signs, staff discussed taking Schmid off life support and broached the subject of organ donation with his family. This was done through subtle discussions “about Sam, his quality of life, what would Sam want if we had to come to a difficult decision”, according to his mother.

“It looked like all the odds were stacked against him,” said neurosurgeon Dr. Robert Spetzler. ... “There was plenty wrong -- he had a hemorrhage, an aneurysm and a stroke from the part of the aneurysm,”. ...“I didn't want to give the family false hope.”

“At some point, I knew we had to make some sort of decision, and I kept praying,” said his mother, who asked for Sam to be given another week.Despite being considered “brain dead”, he was actually very much alive

On October 24 Sam Schmid began to respond, holding up two fingers on command. Despite being considered “brain dead”, he was actually very much alive.

Since then Sam has been in physical rehabilitation and walks with the aid of a walker. His speech, although slow, has improved. He spent Christmas Day at home with his family. Thankfully, Sam has a devoted family, who didn’t give up on him when he was most vulnerable to pressure for “organ donation”.

Sam says: “I see myself leaving the house, going to school, work, basic things like that... I just want my life to be what it used to be.”